Rafael - Living live a day at a time

Ayer, 4 de Noviembre, mi familia y yo tuvimos la oportunidad de deleitar nuestros oídos al sonido del ensamble Ruta 9 en el DUCTAC. El grupo estaba compuesto de Cheche Requena en el clarinete, Gonzalo Teppa en el bajo, Miguel Siso en el cuatro y Klever Camero miembro de en Cayapa en los teclados.

Fue una iniciativa excelente de la embajada de Venezuela en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos el haber traído a este grupo de músicos excepcionales para que dieran un concierto gratuito para el disfrute de la comunidad de Dubai.

Disfruté muchísimo el poder escuchar canciones tradicionales como Señor Job, A mundo Barquisimeto; y el espectáculo que dieron y su interacción con el público nos dejó agradecidos a haber podido participar en este pedacito de Venezuela en Dubai. Les recomiendo vean los links de los músicos arriba, y los dejo aquí abajo con 2 videos de Miguel Siso, ganador del festival La Siembra del cuatro, y quien yo considero el mejor cuatrista que he tenido la oportunidad de escuchar en vivo, así que disfrútenlo.





Yesterday November 4th, my family and I had the opportunity to enjoy a concert given by the "ensamble Ruta 9" in the DUCTAC here in Dubai. The group was made by Cheche Requena in the clarinet, Gonzalo Teppa in the bass, Miguel Siso in the "cuatro" (venezuelan traditional instrument, similar to a guitar but with 4 strings) and Klever Camero in the keyboards.

It was an excellent iniative created by the Venezuelan Embassy in the UAE to bring this group of exceptionally talented musicians to give a free concert to the enjoyment of the Dubai community.

I enjoyed very much being able to listen to traditional songs like "Señor Job", "A mundo Barquisimeto" and the show and interaction with the public made us appreciate being able to participate in this little part of Venezuela in Dubai. I recommend that you check the links to the musicians webpages given above, and to give you a sense of what I experienced I posted above 2 videos of Miguel Siso, winner of the Festival "La Siembra del cuatro", and who I consider is the best cuatro player I have had the opportunity to hear live, so enjoy it.

Labels: Español, Musica, Venezuela

¡¡No se pierdan este video que está increible!! Y pensar que RCTV fue cambiada para que los Venezolanos disfrutaran de esto



Este es Willy Oviedo, comentarista deportivo de TVes y quién tuvo una pequeña confusión al cubrir la noticia sobre Michael Phelps al ganar su octava medalla de oro. Según el Michael Phelps nadó en 1972, cuando los juegos Olímpicos fueron en la Alemania Nazi y Hitler no le quizo dar sus medallas de oro ¡No te lo pierdas!

Encontrado via franengotas.com

Labels: Español, News, Venezuela

It has definitely been an interesting week for my country (Venezuela), after the first partial results were given by the CNE (National Elections Committee) stating that the constitutional reforms were not approved by the people (check older post below).
Venezuela saw Chavez accept the defeat without the rage or angry message a lot of people expected from him(Check BBC news).
Then Venezuela saw that expected reaction from Chavez while broadcasting with the Military. He qualified the victory of the opposition as a "Shitty victory", and mentioned that he didn't want to win in that way, and that he will put the reform through once more, even if it is not constitutional to do so. During his speech (check the video in Spanish) he mentions "Shit" 4 times, which is against the law; and then Venezuelans saw our "Communications Minister" say that the fact that the President did use the word will allow for it to be permitted in the future(check the video in Spanish).
Venezuela also heard his speech saying that "Here, the Sí lost, you let the Sí loose, Miranda owes me one, people of Miranda and Caracas you are in debt with me, I have it written down in my planner, let's see if you will pay your debt to me or not", while addressing the facts that his followers did not go vote massively on Sunday, as in prior occasions (best review in English I have read is in Caracas Chronicles blog)
To finish the week, Venezuelans wait for the CNE to give the full and final results of Sunday's polls in the next hours, while some analysts made note that the difference between "No" and "Si" might be significantly smaller that initially thought (Check Caracas Chronicles blog). And also Venezuelans are expected to roll back their clocks by 30 min next Sunday, as the "New Time Zone" for Venezuela gets into effect (Check Reuters for more details)

How much longer will this craziness continue? Well for that I recommend you read The Economist's article "The wind goes out of the revolution" it's worth the read!!

Labels: Politics, Venezuela

The headlines in BBC read Chavez defeated over reform vote, in CNN headlines are Voters reject Chavez's referendum. The reality is that a good amount of Venezuelans decided yesterday to use their right to vote for or against the changes in the constitution put forward by Chavez and his government, and they were not approved!!.

Today 01:19 (Caracas time) the CNE (National Elections Committee) announced that with a total of 97% of the acts already reviewed the "No" had won, it was a very close call though.

The referendum was divided into 2 blocks, 50.7% of voters voted against the first block while 49.29% voted for it. 51.05% of voters voted against the 2nd block while 48.44% voted for it.
There was an absenteeism of 44.11%. For the Spanish speaking out there, go check Globovision for further figures.

The first block included reforms like: Continuous Presidential reelection and presidency period extended to 7 years, the expropriation of goods with a payment to the owner done in parallel to the judicial process (not like before where the judicial process and payment had to be finished before expropriating the goods), increase in Presidential attributions or rights, lost of the autonomy of the BCV (Venezuelan Central Bank), lowering of minimum age to vote to 16 years, and diminishing of daily working hours to 6 hours instead of 8, etc. Further information on the reforms can be found in Spanish in El Nacional.

Venezuela has made history against the "Revolution" and the "Socialism of the XXI century", but Chavez will continue to push his reforms in any way possible. He has until 2013 (when he will have already 14 years of presidency) to do so, therefore everyone asks Venezuelans to be very cautious, it is a great start but it is not the end of it. Some quotes of reactions can be found on BBC.

Labels: Venezuela